Spain’s Centuries of Crisis1300–1474

Teofilo F. Ruiz

Spain’s Centuries of Crisis

A HISTORY OF SPAIN

Published

Iberia in Prehistory* María Cruz Fernández Castro

The Romans in Spain†

John S. Richardson

Visigothic Spain 409–711 Roger Collins

The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797 Roger Collins

The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain, 1031–1157†

Bernard F. Reilly

Spain’s Centuries of Crisis: 1300–1474Teofilo F. Ruiz

The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs 1474–1520John Edwards

Spain 1516–1598: From Nation State to World Empire*John Lynch

The Hispanic World in Crisis and Change, 1598–1700*John Lynch

Bourbon Spain, 1700–1808* John Lynch

Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939Charles J. Esdaile

Spain: From Dictatorship to Democracy, 1939 to the PresentJavier Tusell

Forthcoming

Caliphs and Kings 798–1033Roger Collins

Spain 1157–1300: A Partible InheritancePeter Linehan

* Out of print† Print on demand

Spain’s Centuries of Crisis1300–1474

Teofilo F. Ruiz

© 2007 by Teofilo F. Ruiz

BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

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First published 2007 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

1 2007

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ruiz, Teofilo F., 1943–Spain’s centuries of crisis : 1300–1474 / Teofilo F. Ruiz.

p. cm. – (History of Spain)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-2789-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Spain–

History–711-1516. I. Title.DP99.R85 2007946′.02–dc22

2007003775

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To Sofía Rose

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments viiiMap 1: Spain in the Late Fifteenth Century xiMap 2: The Crown of Aragon and the Western Mediterranean

in the Late Middle Ages xii

1 At the Dawn of a New Century: The Spains around 1300 1

2 Medieval Spain in the Late Middle Ages: Society and Economy 28

3 The Answers of Politics: Spain, 1300–1350 51

4 Toward Trastámara Spain, 1350–1412 72

5 Spain in the Fifteenth Century: Toward the Rule of the Catholic Monarchs, 1412–1469 86

6 The Sinews of Power: Administration, Politics, and Display 110

7 Muslims, Jews, and Christians in a Century of Crisis 139

8 Culture and Society in an Age of Crisis 164

9 Epilogue 196

Notes 202Bibliographical Essay 217Index 228

Preface and Acknowledgments

Writing the history of Spain in the late Middle Ages, as I will reiterate inthe first chapter, is not an easy task. The diversity of political players andentities, the endless conflicts between noble factions, urban oligarchies, andthe Crown, the numerous and violent challenges to royal authority, and severesocial and economic crises stood in sharp contrast to vigorous and innova-tive cultural transformations, linguistic changes, and signal administrativereforms. All of these components paved the way for Spain’s later primacyof place among western European powers in the early modern period.

In attempting to reconstruct the history of the two most important realms in the peninsula – the kingdom of Castile (Castile-León) and theCrown of Aragon – from around 1300 to the marriage of Ferdinand andIsabella in 1469 and Isabella’s ascent to the throne in 1474, I have placedthat troubled history and the general evolution of political, administrative,and cultural life within the context of the long-term crises that plaguedmost of the West from the late thirteenth century to the end of the MiddleAges. By emphasizing crises and the demands they placed on Spanish womenand men, I have also sought to see administrative, political, religious, andcultural innovations as responses to, as well as shaped by, the general latemedieval crises. These developments had also their counterparts in growingantagonism against religious minorities and the end of religious pluralismin the peninsula. They were also paralleled and influenced by vigorous andnovel cultural production.

Chapter 1 provides a general view of the Spanish realms in 1300 and seeksto place the events of that year and the next century and a half within thelong sweep of Spanish medieval history. A brief foray into the geographicalfeatures of the peninsula and the links between topography and politicallife leads us to chapter 2. In that chapter I describe the different aspects of Spain’s social, economic, political, and structural crises from the late

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

thirteenth century into the late fifteenth, with emphasis on the impact ofthe crises on political institutions and practice.

Chapters 3 to 5 offer a chronological narrative of Spanish political life,highlighting the ebb and flow of peninsular conflicts and territorial expan-sion and contrasting the different paths followed by Castile and Aragon.In chapter 6 I turn to those administrative, fiscal, and institutional changesthat, while the crises raged, set the foundations for either stronger royalauthority in Castile or formal “constitutional” arrangements in the Crownof Aragon. True “sinews” of power, these institutional innovations providedthe framework for new ways of articulating power. Chapter 7 focuses onthe intertwined histories of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. I would arguethat the clear deterioration of these relations in the period after 1300 reflected,to a large extent, the shifting context in which different religious groupsinteracted. The crises of late medieval society had, on the whole, nefariousconsequences for Jews and Muslims, and the Christians’ (or at least someChristians) growing hostility towards them was also a complex and perverseresponse to the general crises affecting the peninsular realms. Finally, thelast chapter examines cultural production – mostly literary culture, festivals,and other cultural artifacts – as paralleling and emerging from the troubledclimate of the age.

***

Were I to list all those to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, the list wouldbe so extensive as to duplicate the length of this book. The sparse notesand the more extensive bibliographical essay do not begin to reflect thelarge number of scholars and students whose works and comments haveinformed these pages. Angus Mackay, a historian of rare understanding and insightfulness, and a generous friend, was to have written this volumeoriginally. The reader, I fear, will be short-changed. No matter how very hardI have tried, this book would never match that which Angus Mackay wouldhave written. That this particular volume is preceded by Peter Linehan’sbook, Spain, 1157–1312, in Blackwell’s History of Spain series and is followedby John Edwards’ The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs honors me greatly.I could not think of more distinguished company, and their contribu-tions to Blackwell’s History of Spain have been a very strong incentive toattempt to make a contribution worthy of their distinction as scholars. I have known Peter Linehan for many years and have greatly benefited from his insightful comments and exceedingly generous friendship. JohnEdwards’ work has also been an enduring source of inspiration and a modelfor my own.

x Preface and Acknowledgments

At UCLA, Lynn Hunt, Margaret Jacob, Ron Mellor, David Myers, DavidSabean, Arch Getty, Patrick Geary, Muriel McClendon, Steve Aron, KevinTerraciano, and Geoffrey Symcox have provided the scholarly communityin which it has always been a pleasure to do research and writing. Graduateand undergraduate students have provided me with vigorous critiques andhelpful comments. I have learned much from the work of Gregory Milton,Claudia Mineo, Jenny Jordan, and Bryan Givens. In the United States PaulFreedman, David Nirenberg, William C. Jordan, Olivia R. Constable, andDaniel Smail have always given their unreserved support.

Abroad, as always, Jacques Le Goff, John H. Elliott, Jacques Revel, AdelineRucquoi, Manuel González Jiménez, Hilario Casado, Judith Herrin, DenisMenjot, and others have encouraged my work and taught me by example.At Blackwell, Tessa Harvey, Gillian Kane, Angela Cohen, Rebecca du Plessis,and Janet Moth have been extremely generous with their help and under-standing. John Lynch, the general editor of the series, has been equally supportive and encouraging. To them I owe a great debt of gratitude. ScarlettFreund, my friend and wife, is, as I have written many times before, theenduring reason for which I live and write. But this book is dedicated tomy granddaughter Sofía Rose Ruiz. Born on December 11, 2005, she, myfirst grandchild, has brought me joys and feelings I did not know existed.And this book is dedicated to her in the hope that – not unlike those fifteenth-century Castilian poets who wrote in search of remembrance – many years from now, when she reads this, she knows that I was lovingly think-ing of her.

F R A N C E

P O

R T

U G

A L

ROUSSILLONASTURIAS

LEONGALICIA

EX

TR

EM

AD

UR

A

ARAGON

BASQUEPROV

CERDAGNE

CATALONIA

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CA

STIL

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NC

IA

ANDALUCIA

MURCIA

NEW CASTILE

Pamplona

Monzón

ZaragozaBarcelona

Calatayud

Valencia

Alicante

Murcia

Cuenca

Zamora Toro

Avlla

León

Oviedo

Valladolid

Santiago

La Coruña

Burgos

Soria

Bilbao

Medina delCampo

Salamanca

Cáceres

SegoviaGuadalajara

MadridAlcalá de Henares

Toledo

Ciudad Real

Jaén

Granada

Córdoba

Gibraltar

Seville

Cádiz

Lisbon

Málaga

R. Duero

R. G

uadi

ana

R. Gudalquivit

R. Tagus

R. Ebro

N

Map 1 Spain in the late Fifteenth CenturySource: based on Edwards, J. The Monarchies of Ferdinand and Isabella (Historical Associationpamphlet), p. 4

KerkenmaGharbi

Tunis

Trapani

Palermo

Cagliari

CalviCORSICA

[1204–1349]

SARDINIA(1297, 1323)

Caeta

FlorencePisa

VeniceMilan

GenoaTarasoonAvignonToulouse

BrziersBEARN Foix

Sauveteuse CARLADES

Bonifacio

SassariAlghero

IglesiasArborea

Neopatria

Achens

ConslantinopleBaspholus

Moho

Calabria

SICILY(1283)

Candia

CRETE

RHODES

CYPRUS

Alexandria

E G Y P TA F R I C A

BALKANS

Gulf ofPalmas

BougicTlerocen

Almeria

MAJORCA(1229)

Palma

Toledo

Valencia[1298]Murcia

ValladolidBurgos

CASTILE

R. Ebro

LEON

PO

RT

UG

AL

NAVARRE

Bordeaux

N

Bayonne

CeutaAlgeciras

GRANADAAntequera

SevilleAlarcos

Alicante (1235)IBIZA

Denia

MINORCA[1287]

Fargos

BarcelonaTarragona

TortosaJoca

pori

Cuzurla

MACHRIB

The original nucleus(1137–1204)

Aquisitions (1229–1442)

Montpellier (1204–1349)

MOROCCO

F RANCE

Delirs

Bône

A N D A L U S I ANaples

Luanda

Zaragoza

CATALONIA

ARAGON

VALENCIA

Satona

Map 2 The Crown of Aragon and the Western Mediterranean in the late Middle AgesSource: Bisson, T. The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History (Oxford, 1986), p. 91

Chapter 1

At the Dawn of a New Century

The Spains around 1300

The dawn of a new century in 1300 was marked in Rome, and elsewherethroughout the medieval West, with lavish celebrations. The Great Jubileedrew thousands of pilgrims to the capital of Western Christianity, and Dante,writing the first lines of his Divine Comedy two years later, chose GoodFriday 1300 as the date for his fictional encounter with Virgil and the date for the wrenching journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, and to his final vision of the Godhead. On November 15, 1300, Ferdinand(Fernando) IV, king of Castile, León, Asturias, Galicia, Toledo, and of thewide collection of other kingdoms and territories that constituted the realmof Castile in the Middle Ages, exempted Don Estebán and his wife, DoñaInés, both citizens of Burgos, from all taxes, except for moneda forera (a taxpaid to the Crown for maintaining the stability of the coinage), as a rewardfor Estebán’s efforts as a surgeon.1 That same year, under the authority ofthe regents, Ferdinand’s mother, María de Molina, and his uncle, the InfanteDon Henry (Enrique) – for the king was still a minor – the young kinggranted similar privileges and exemptions to men and women throughoutthe realm, issued charters to municipalities, made donations to monaster-ies, and other such examples of royal largesse and power.

In 1300 other extant documents in Castile, the Crown of Aragon, Navarre,and even the Muslim kingdom of Granada reveal mostly the normal andmundane affairs of everyday life. Property transactions, donations, wills,monastic protests against noble encroachment and abuses, and royal attempts– more often than not failed attempts or ignored by a restless nobility –to restore order are similar in many respects to those of preceding and succeeding decades. In the Iberian peninsula, 1300 was not the dramaticwatershed that the arrival of the new century marked for other parts ofEurope. Yet, though not charged with the symbolic weight that it had inother realms throughout the medieval West, many Castilians, Aragonese,